The Indian rupee fell for a seventh straight year in 2024, largely due to headwinds in the last quarter, including Donald Trump’s U.S. election victory-spurred surge in the dollar, while locally, slowing growth and a wider trade deficit weighed. The rupee dropped 2.8% in 2024 to end the year at 85.6150 per U.S. dollar. It fared better than many of its Asian peers, which declined between 3% and 12% due to the dollar’s strength and multiple twists and turns in the outlook on U.S. policy rates. The rupee was only marginally weaker at the end of September. But it slid nearly 2.2% in the last quarter and hit multiple record lows, with the lifetime low of 85.8075 coming on Dec. 27. Despite the rupee’s struggles in the last three months, it remains the least volatile major Asian currency, excluding the pegged Hong Kong dollar, largely due to the Reserve Bank of India’s routine two-sided interventions. When portfolio inflows jumped in the July-September quarter, the rupee benefited only marginally as the central bank absorbed dollar inflows, lifting the country’s forex reserves (INFXR=ECI), opens new tab to an all-time high of $704.89 billion. On the other hand, RBI has routinely stepped in to sell […]